What You May Not Know About Hillstream Loach Aquarium Fish 

I seriously laughed out loud when you stuck your finger in the water and said "yeah...75, 74 degrees or so"

Interesting topic Lucas. Certainly they appear to be designed for high flow. But I think we sometimes conclude that what a fish tolerates in the wild is what they require or even prefer. They breed readily for me in a 20 long with a simple sponge filter.

Mine are breeding like rabbits-I keep them at 71 degrees until summer pushes it up. Aquaclear 110 on a 40B. Big rocks, wood, some sand, some gravel and live plants. Tank mates are LF white clouds. They love shrimp pellets! Lots of algae. The fry are SO CUTE!

After keeping and breeding these fish for over two years I’ve definitely noticed that traditional wisdom on this fish does vary significantly. I began with seven and now have 28+. I think I have been successful because of huge water changes.

These are definitely on my list! Thanks for all the great info!

Still setting up my fish room. I may have to try and breed these little guys. Thanks for the video Lucas! Hope to see you at Aquashella Dallas 2020

I love these guys! I had one for quite a while, it was a super cool fish to keep. They look awesome.

we love our hillstreams.....Jack has 8 in his set up and they do kung fu battle sometimes too.....very fun to watch....he absolutely loves them and we are hoping they breed for him after we get done with his renovations and they can settle in better....

You are so good in this, love to watch you.

Hillstream Loaches are my favorite fish!! My "dream tank" is a 40B set up much like Rachel's 150.... maybe someday!!! Thanks for the great info on these awesome little fishes!!! 💖💖💖

The most adorable thing evee was when he gobbled that piece of food down lol I feel like the more we breed fish in captivity the less they require the parameters that their wild counterparts do.

I really like your snails. I'm slowly setting up a planted tank with cherry shrimp and various snails. Right now I have mystery snails, wild ram's horn snails (which stay tiny) and nerite snails. Inverts are so underrated! One of the fish that I've heard can live with breeding shrimp are hillstream loaches. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about them.

Nice vid. I enjoyed watching. Thank you for sharing.

Ok...officially just blew my mind. I did a lot of research on these guys, watched and paid attention to Rachel's hillstream tank and Mad Fish Diva's tank...and here you come along and blow it all out of the water...nope don't need high oxygen, nope don't need fast flow...nope don't need special food...water, rocks, plants, and Tetra Color Tropical Granules...😂

Good to know thanks Lucas!

I've avoided keeping them due to the high flow requirement. After seeing this, maybe I'll put them back on my list for the future. 😊 Thanks for this!

Love these.you forgot to mention, a lid is a absolute must! they will jump out of the tank. dont ask me how i know.

I put sponges on all my intakes. It protects shrimp, sucker fish, catches large particulate, provides a great place for many plants to grow, is perfect for bacteria...it's hard to find a reason not to use sponges.

This is very encouraging. I’m on a waiting list at my lfs for one of these.

Thanks for sharing this! Awesome

I like your style of fishkeeping. 👍

I love your channel and your awesome aquariums. We were told that out Hillstream Loaches wouldn't breed. I have lots of videos on my page that they indeed do lol.

I have been wanting some hillstream loaches for a while . I think they are beautiful fish

Awesome info thanks!! Could you please do a vid on your half beaks? Similar to this? Basic care etc.

Great video, thinking about getting some for my tanks

Love the Loaches very cool !!!!!

I love my hillstream loach tip of the fin is red. Awesome fish.

This is ground breaking stuff man great job Only Problem in my area Can get to 37-41°c with very high humidity

Love all the a Hillstream loaches. I have them and Panda Garras.

Digging that music👍😁oh, the video was great too😂😂

It’s always fun trying to keep count of the fish

Learned a lot thanks.

Awesome little fish......….Great video :)

Really helpful video

Well done Lucas!

thank you so much for this!!! a lot of people need to see this 100% also whats the temp in the discus tank ? my discus are in 76/77F water in winter unheated tanks! and doing well! love your tanks! definitely sharing this one! cheer bud

Love them!!

Hi Lucas, they are beautiful looking fish. I'm going to see if we have them here in Australia as i'd love a few of them... what no filter?? OMG how bad of you.. haha.. keep up the great work your doing. Just a quick question.. what is the difference between these and the Hillstream Loaches? I gather the colour as these are black but other things ??

Great video, interesting behavior of your panda garra

Nice spotlight 👍

Hey awesome video! Could I add a group of them in a 40 breeder bare bottom with 4 fancy goldfish that are about the size of a golf ball? I’ve always wanted to keep these little guys! Thanks bro!

The only reason I never got this particular hillstream loach was the high flow conditions. Might have to rethink this. Thanks for your info Lucas on such a cool fish.

I have 2 and I love them a lot, one is a "Borner Sucker" and the other is this variant, though they like to constantly fight gliding around the glass surfaces trying to push one another around. It does worry me a bit 'cause I like things to be pretty chill so I may have to split them up if it carries on because I'm not entirely sure they're not gonna stress each other out too much even if they don't really do any physical damage!

I love my 4 Hillstreams🥰

was that a guppy in there with the loaches? what kind is it because I love both!!!

I know im late but my tank is constantly at 79 might jump up to 81 during water changes.... you think they would survive i got 55 gallon high flow cuz my filter is rated for a 110 gallon and a bubble wall and air stone...

Can I keep them with betta....at 26 degree celsius... Pls help

Love em' ✌️💞

Are they super sensitive to aquarium antibiotics?

Thanks Lucas. I've been getting lots of algae on some big rocks prepping for some Hillies. Probably the only fish I've wanted to keep for a second time.

Have you bred these in your hard water ?

Do you think 1 betta, 6 kuhli loaches, and 3 hillstream loaches would be ok in a 15 gallon? I'll probably have 10-20 shrimp in there also. Looks like you have quite a few in a small tank. People seem to say hillstream loaches are only suitable for 20 gallons or higher, is this true?

I put em in a tank with a betta and they been foing pretty good actually

I have a tank with pea gravel substrate. I keep a small glass dish of sand with 2 small freshwater clams in the same tank. The bowl is just so I can keep track and actually see the clams. I frequently see the hillstreams in that dish sifting away at the sand. They flip it up onto their backs and just sift away.

Do you sell those?

I want these guys!

Since there have been several individuals negatively commenting on Lucas’s way of keeping these fish, I thought I should suggest to everyone that you may want to check out Cory from Aquarium CO-OP RU-vid channel. He has bred and raised these fish in cool and warm water temperatures. He has bred these fish in low and high flow water. So just because Lucas is keeping his fish this way does not make it wrong. He is simply stating an opinion that I feel we should consider as not all information on the internet is accurate.

Can Hillstream loach and shrimp be breed in same tank??

Will they graze algae off live plants like Anubias?

Are they shrimp safe ?

Thanks for your video LRB Aquatics. If anyone has any insight I have a hillstream loach in a 15 gallon, just got home from work and he has turned pale for the first time - I have had him for a month. I never see him leave the glass - there appears to still be some brown algae in places.Will they turn pale if they are starving? I have not seen him eat any of the wafers or repashy for my other bottom dwellers - thanks

Great vid, thanks ! Do you know the exact latin name for this particular hill stream loach?

Do you know if they will eat baby shrimp?

Right, in southeast asia, We don't spoiled them like giving them some strong sucktion power head..

If these are kept with Rainbow fish.CLown loaches..do they protect the spawn? So that they are able to reproduce in a large tank with lots of structure and lots of Rainbows,small barbs also?

I have ordered 8 of these as I think they would be happier in a small shoal

Hey I know this is an old video but do you think they would be fine with pictus catfish? I ask because my pictus are frenzy feeders and try to swim off with the wafers I put in

Some of these species come from streams with large fluctuations in flow due to the monsoon season. So I suspect they spend a lot of time in shallow puddled areas when the water levels drop. Never had much luck with them though, what do you feed them? I think good lighting helps with a biofilm for them to munch on.

Mine like to climb up IN the filter up the output flow. Silly critters!

Cool video, Hillstream Loaches are on my LTK list. What type of Danios are they that they're sharing the tank with (rerio - leopard / kyathit - ocelot)? I'm a new fishkeeper and after I set up my first tank last July (a 60litre temperate), the first fish I bought and stocked were a group of 8 danios, which were sold to me as longfin blues - Danio kerri, (super active and obviously very hardy fish, I've still got all 8). In the months since and despite ongoing searching, I've not yet found anything that's an actual match to their colouring and markings: silver/blue with dark spots/blotches, similar to the ones in the video, except with mine the markings only show as a broken double lateral line, from behind the operculum and into the caudal peduncle, ie. < and with white edging to the dorsal and caudal fins. Been subscribed to the channel for a little while now and thoroughly enjoying catching up with the back catalogue of content. Happy New Year, btw (I know it's been a few days now, but still).

Can you keep hillstream loach with a goldfish tank and if so, normally with goldfish water it's recommended to have salt added at 1 tablespoon per 5 - 10 gallons of water ... wondering would hillstream loach torerate that type of water conditions. Thanks you

Lucas Rocks!

I’ve got a hillstream loach in my betta tank. It lives in 82 degree water and he does just fine. He always knocks my rabbit snail off the glass 😂

👍

how many do you think I can keep in a heavily planted 10 gallon with a sponge filter and air bubbler?

Would you able to keep them on something like eco-complete ? I heard some had success with corydoras despite the general conception that they don't do well on sharp gravel. Thanks for the video !

Im getting two for my 20 long planted with guppies Corydoras and some shrimp And snails I don’t have a lid on it are they known jumpers ?

How often do you change water with no filter? Loving your take on the hobby 🐠💙🐠

What temp do you have the tank at?

I see them once at my lfs...i still regret not take them. For my defense i was out of a quarantine tank.

whats the other kind of fish in with your hillstream loaches? i love how they look

I have heard these are okay to put in with goldfish/comets. Is this true with the higher amounts of ammonia from goldfish?

i love it the panda garras, you made a video of them? i got them recently and i would love to know more things about them

Will they do well in a sand substrate?

Hey Lucas, I know this is an older video but I've been looking into getting some hillstreams, I've seen some people say they need 50 gallon tanks but I see your tank isn't that large and seen others says they keep them in 20 longs. I'm planning a 20 long, how many y would you recommend putting in with some dither fish like white clouds or danios? Thanks

Can I keep them in pH of 6-6.5? Tank is unheated (varies seasonally between 19 to 29C) and low flow, heavily planted.

what do you feed em?

How can we get blue gularis eggs or fry from you? I'm in Canada tho....

I’m in the market for an algae eater on my 125g. I’d like one of these guys but I’m still unsure it’s a good idea. Would they suicide on wavemakers? “Crawl” into my overflows leading to my sump? And idk if I could even ensure he gets food with 23 clown loaches and 6 roselines. Will they compete for the food at all?

Alright alright

What size is that tank

That long fin danio is huge. You must have had that a while.

Hey mate! Question is,,, borneo loach and hillstream loach is the same thing if we speak in the terms of keeping, breeding, feeding,,,? I know that they are different species. :)

Are you going to be selling these on your site anytime soon? Or can you let me know where you bought yours from? I’d love buy 2-3 for a 29g guppy tank

Pandas and hillstreams, two amazing species :)

👍🏻👍🏻🤠

Question. Do you have those sponge filters in just for the bacteria and do they need to be on

Are they good for a neocaridina tank ? Will they bother shrimp ??and eat babies ???

Same water as me. I have 3.

Yesterday the spotted hillstream loach I ordered came doa. There's different kinds but I like the spotted. It has the most alien look I think. The tiger is nice too. What's yalls favorite?